Trial resumes in Texas dialysis deaths

LUFKIN, Texas, March 7 (UPI) -- Testifying in a Texas murder case, a patient care technician said she would have noticed bleach-filled syringes that allegedly killed five dialysis patients.

Angie Rodriguez was questioned Tuesday in the trial of Kimberly Saenz, who is accused of murder in the deaths of five patients, and charged with aggravated assault of five others, at the DaVita Dialysis clinic in Lufkin, Texas. Saenz is alleged to have knowingly injected bleach into 10 dialysis patients.

Rodriguez testified she was partnered with Saenz, a licensed vocational nurse of eight months, on the day in April 2008 when two patients claim to have seen Saenz inject bleach, normally used as a disinfectant, into the lines of two other patients.

Rodriguez recalled returning from a morning break and noticing one of the patients, Marva Rhone, "having difficulties". A test at a hospital revealed Rhone had toxins in her bloodstream, and later test by the Lufkin Police Department indicated bleach in her plastic delivery tubes, called "lines," prosecutor Clyde Herrington said.

The trial, in Angelina County Courthouse, began Monday. Saenz faces life imprisonment if convicted.

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